42 
Morning Session, Wednesday, November 18, 1903. 
The report of the committee upon memorials being called for, H. E. Alvord, on 
behalf of that committee, stated that arrangements had been made for the delivery 
of the two addresses desired, one by Dr. F. W. Gunsaulus, of Chicago, on President 
Beardshear, of Iowa; the other by President P. H. Mell, of South Carolina, on Presi- 
dent Broun, of Alabama; but that notice had been received that Doctor Gunsaulus 
had met with an accident which would prevent him from being present. 
The other address was delivered by President Mell, as follows: 
Memorial Address on President W. L. Broun. 
Dr. William LeKoy Broun was born in Loudon County, Va., in 1827, and died in 
Auburn, Ala., January 23, 1902, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. His was a life of 
long and faithful service to his country in the contribution he made to science and in 
the great work he did as an educator of national reputation. The writer was associ- 
ated with Doctor Broun as student and colleague for more than thirty years, and this 
opportunity has been peculiarly advantageous for studying his character and his 
work in public and private life. 
Doctor Broun was educated at the University of Virginia and graduated from that 
institution in 1850 with the degree of master of arts. Soon after graduation he was 
elected to a position in a Mississippi college which he filled until 1854, when he was 
selected by the board of trustees of the University of Georgia for the chair of mathe- 
matics. He remained in connection with the University of Georgia until 1857. when 
he resigned to organize the Bloomfield School, situated near the University of Vir- 
ginia, and he conducted this school with great success until the opening of hostilities 
between the States in 1861. In 1859 he was married to Miss Sallie Fleming, of 
Hanover County, Va. 
When war was declared between the States, Doctor Broun enlisted as lieutenant of 
artillery, and spent one year in the field with the army of Virginia. He was then 
ordered to Richmond and made superintendent of armories with the rank of major, 
and was detailed to examine into the resources and facilities at the command of the 
South for the manufacture of arms and ammunition. He visited many places, par- 
ticularly in North Carolina and Georgia, to determine the practicability of making sul- 
phuric acid and other chemicals required for the manufacture of powder and percussion 
caps. In 1862 he was stationed at Holly Springs, Miss. , in charge of a factory designed 
for the manufacture of small arms, but the defeat of Gen. A. S. Johnston's army at 
Shiloh, Tenn., compelled him to remove the machinery to Meridian, Miss., and 
shortly afterwards he was attached to the ordnance department and ordered to 
Richmond, where he remained until its evacuation. 
Some illustrations here given show the importance of Colonel Broun' s services to 
the Confederate cause. 
He suggested and conducted the first civil-service examination ever held in this 
country. This was brought about by the numerous applications for service in the 
ordnance department because of an enactment of the Confederate congress authoriz- 
ing the appointment of 50 new ordnance officers. This examination was held in 
1862. Colonel Broun was president of the board of examiners. 
He prepared a field ordnance manual by abridging the old United States manual 
and adapting it to the Confederate service. This work was published by the gov- 
ernment and distributed in the army. 
lie was appointed commander of the Richmond arsenal in 186.3, where the greater 
part of the ordnance stores were manufactured. It is said that, but for the valuable 
work performed in this connection by Colonel Broun, the Confederate struggle would 
have ended long before it did. His fertile genius used every available resource. In 
an article published several years since in an issue of the Journal of the United 
Slates Artillery, Colonel Broun speaks of this work as follows: "Cannon were made 
in the Tredegar Iron Works, including siege and field guns, Napoleons, howitzers, 
and banded cast-iron guns. Steel guns were not made. We had no facilities for 
making steel and no time to experiment. The steel guns used by the Confederate 
States were highly valued, and, with the exception of a few purchased abroad, were 
all captured from the Federals." 
In this arsenal tin; old United States machine, which did not yield a large supply 
of percussion caps, was greatly improved, so that 2 men with 6 boys and girls were 
able to complete 300,000 caps every eight hours, or a capacity of 1,000,000 caps per 
day. 
